Lead UI Artist

Job description

**The Studio:** We are a video game development studio with offices in **Guildford, UK** and **Utrecht, Netherlands**. Sitting within the heart of thriving communities of game developers and publishers, we focus on quality and excellence, and our partners and players are always at the front of everything we do. Games are not just about gameplay. We believe in the importance of balancing every single aspect of a game that you, as a player will interact with; what you see, how you play and how it makes you feel. It couldn’t be a more exciting time to join us as we work to create truly AAA experiences. **The Role** We're looking for a Lead UI Artist to shape the visual language of our game - from menus, HUDs and icons to the motion that makes an interface feel alive. You'll set the artistic vision for UI across the project, mentor a team of artists, and work closely with design, engineering and creative leadership to make every screen as polished as the world it belongs to. If you've got a sharp eye for composition and colour, a passion for player experience, and the leadership chops to rally a team around a shared vision, we want to hear from you. We want a forward-thinking artist who can work with the team to create memorable, immersive experiences. At Stellar, you will have the opportunity to develop and grow your expertise and increase the quality of the projects we are developing. As our **Lead UI Artist**, you will: - Act as a UI craft specialist, providing expert guidance, mentorship, and support to help elevate the quality of UI across the studio. - Champion UI best practices, setting high standards for visual quality, usability, technical implementation, and player experience. - Collaborate with clients, internal stakeholders, and development teams to support UI direction and help shape effective solutions. - Present UI concepts and work, offering informed recommendations and supporting productive client and stakeholder discussions. - Design and create high quality UI assets, including menus, HUDs, icons, buttons, animations, and interactive elements, setting an example for exceptional craft. - Develop and improve UI workflows, pipelines, style guides, and best practices to support consistent, scalable production. - Collaborate closely with designers, artists, engineers, and producers to solve complex UI challenges and deliver polished player experiences. - Review and provide constructive feedback on UI work, helping teams achieve visual consistency, usability, and technical excellence. - Support UI implementation within the game engine, working with engineers to balance creative goals, performance, and technical constraints. - Advocate for strong user experiences by contributing to the refinement of player interactions, accessibility, and usability. - Explore and introduce new techniques, tools, and workflows that improve UI quality and production efficiency. - Share knowledge across the UI team and wider studio through mentoring, feedback, documentation, and best practice development. - Provide expert input on complex UI challenges, helping teams make informed design and technical decisions. - Stay current with industry trends, emerging technologies, and UI/UX practices, bringing new ideas and approaches into studio projects. **Requirements** **What we’re looking to see on your CV and portfolio:** - Significant professional experience in UI development across all phases of the game development lifecycle, AAA experience advantageous. - Proven experience leading UI delivery on game projects, including mentoring team members, reviewing work, and driving quality across the discipline. - Strong understanding of UI/UX principles and player-centred design. - Excellent visual design skills, including typography, layout, colour theory, and interaction design. - Strong artistic ability across both 2D and 3D UI creation, with expertise in illustration, iconography, and technical vector artwork. - Experience establishing UI workflows, pipelines, documentation, and style guides that support scalable, high-quality production. - Strong awareness of current and emerging UI/UX trends, with a passion for driving innovation and continuously improving tools, workflows, and processes. - Advanced proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite, including Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, and Adobe XD or equivalent UI design tools. - Experience implementing UI in Unreal Engine using UMG. - Great communication and presentation skills, with experience explaining design decisions to multidisciplinary teams, senior stakeholders, and external clients. - Experience planning, prioritising, and managing UI work across multiple projects while identifying risks, dependencies, and delivery challenges. - A collaborative and supportive leadership style, with a passion for mentoring others, fostering team growth, and maintaining a positive, high-performing creative environment. - Passionate about creating industry-leading user experiences while continually raising the quality bar for both the team and the final product. **Bonus points for:** - Basic knowledge of scripting – HTML, CSS, XML, XAML or similar. - Understanding of working within memory constraints, while balancing artistic intentions. **Benefits** **What you can expect from us:** - Flexible hybrid working (we **work 3 days per week on-site**) - Holiday Accrual Scheme - International AAA game projects; - Access to cutting-edge hardware; - Discretionary bonus scheme - Private Healthcare Plan incl. Dental and Eye care - Pension Plan - Life Assurance - Employee Assistance Programme - Wellness Support - Regular Team Incentives and Social Events We’re on an important journey with our teammates, candidates and industry partners to tackle barriers to equality and promote diversity, inclusion and accessibility across the markets we work in. If you need any support during the interview process or any feedback on our processes, please let us know. **We're unfortunately unable to provide visa sponsorship or relocation support for this role, so you'll need to be based in the UK with the Right to Work here.**